Device for compacting powders



Sept. 15, 1942. E. 1.. GOODEN DEVICE FOR COMPACTING POWDERS Filed Dec. 31, 1940 ERNEST L.GOODEN Bnnentor Gttomeg Fig. 1, is a plunger consis Patented Sept. 15, 1942 teasers PATENT orrlcs DEVICE FOR COMPACTING POWDEBS Ernest L. Gooden, Washington, D. 0., assignor to Claude R. Wickard, as Secretary of Agricul ture of the United States successors in oflice Application December 31, 1940,

1 Claim. (01. 226- 1) of America,v and his s rial No. erases (Granted under the act of March s, 1883, as

amended April 39, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described and claimed, it patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

Methods of compaction commonly used for granular materials involve either (1) settling by vibration, or (2) compaction of the whole mass at once by the use of pressure, or a'combination of (1) and (2).

The essential idea underlying the present invention is the provision of a means that is more 7 eiilcient than any of the above, with special re-' gard to such very fine powders as aredi'fllcult or impossible to compact by vibration and with special regard'to the production of such relatively tall columns of compacted materials as are impossible or diflicult to produce with uniform porosity throughout the column height by the use of a single application ofvertical pressure. The compactor invented by me builds up within a vertical tubular containera column of compacted 25- powder of any desired \height, the compacting process proceeding from bottom to top'concurrently with the deposition of the material.

' In the accompanying drawingJlgr lis Mongi tudinal section of an assembly consisting of the 80 compacting device, the sample tube withinwhich the powder is to be compacted, and a vfunnel attached to the sample tube for ease of loading.

Fig. 2 is a sectional projection of the same assembly viewed as indicated by the arrows 2, 2 in 85 Fig. 1. Similar numerals refer to similar throughout the views.

The compactor, as shown the accompanying g of two parts-a rod or stem l and a foot The rod, which approprlately may be oft a piece of stifl. wire between one and two millimeters in diameter, has kinks distributed practically throughout its length, except a space of several centimeters near the top reserved as a handle I. On the bottom end'of parts 45 the rod is impaled or attached the foot 2, shown' I other suitable material, in the general shape of a solid right clrcularcone irustum with a portion (less than half) cut away on one side. The

' bottom of the foot (before removal of the segment) must fit smoothly inside the tubular container in which the column of compacted material isto be formed. which it may bedesired to form a column of compacted powder is a sample tube 4 for air permeation experiments, with a porous plug 5 serving as a support for the powder.

In use, the compactor is stood up in the empty tube, to the top of which a loading funnel 6 may. be closely connected by ashort piece of rubber tubing I. The powder is poured in on top oi the compactor foot. Then the plunger is alternately 4 raised and lowered in short strokes and mean- 20 past. the fact, which packs the bed as fast asit'is formed. The kinks in the stem assistin feeding the powder and guard against 010881118. The rotating motion serves. both to increase the effectiveness oi the kinks andto prevent com-, pactionaLinequality due to the failure of the foot to cover the whole cross section of thetube.

when the bulk of the material has been packed any powder 'he it clinging to the wall of the tube. 1'

Having thus described my'invention, what I claim for Letter Patent is:

A'device for compactingpowdered materials, comprising. a stemami an attached foot, the stem provided with kinks to assist in feeding the material, and the foot in the general shape of a solid right circular cone frustum with a segment uncompacted material, the basal diameter of V, the foot being only slightly smaller than the inside diameter or the cylinder in which the material is to be compacted.

ERNEST GOODEN.

An example of a container in in place the' plunger-maybe used to scrape down cut away on one side to form a passage for the 

